Future chairman joins BP board ahead of schedule. New director named

The chairman designate and a new non-executive director have joined British oil major BP.

BP said on Thursday that Helge Lund and Pamela Daley joined the company’s board as non-executive directors.

Lund was supposed to join the board as a non-executive director on September 1. He will become the chairman on January 1, 2019, when Carl-Henric Svanberg steps down.

Lund was able to join the board earlier but it will not affect the timing of his succession to chairman.

He served as the CEO of BG Group from 2015 to 2016 when the company merged with Shell. He joined BG Group from Statoil where he served as president and CEO for ten years from 2004.

Before Statoil, Lund was president and CEO of Aker Kvaerner, an industrial conglomerate with operations in oil and gas, engineering and construction, pulp and paper, and shipbuilding. He has also held executive positions in Aker RGI, Hafslund Nycomed, McKinsey & Company, and has served as a political advisor for the Conservative party in Norway.

Apart from Novo Nordisk and Schlumberger, Lund held a position on the board of Nokia from 2011 to 2014.

As for Pamela Daley, she spent most of her career with General Electric, holding roles including senior advisor to the chairman and senior vice president of corporate business development, responsible for global mergers, acquisitions and divestment activities.

She joined GE in 1989 as tax counsel and held a number of senior executive roles in the company, serving most recently as a senior advisor to the chairman between 2013 and 2014. Between 2004 and 2013 she was the senior vice president of corporate business development at GE, where she was responsible for GE’s mergers, acquisitions and divestiture activities worldwide.

She is also a director of BlackRock and SecureWorks and was previously a director of BG Group prior to its acquisition by Shell and Patheon N.V. prior to its acquisition by Thermo Fisher.

BP chairman Svanberg said: “Pamela’s extensive experience in international business development, transactions, and corporate strategy at a global level make her a superb addition to BP’s board. And I am pleased that Helge has been able to join the board earlier than first expected. I look forward to working with them both through my remaining time on the board.”